Archive for June 2013

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June Top 5 {2013}

It's that time again! Time to look back at your favorites from the last month and our favorites. We had a lot going on in June, Jamie took her kids to the Fire Station Open House and my kids and I have been doing our Park Challenge. I also helped my husband and his siblings throw an anniversary party for his parents as Kerry was off in Denver playing Chef and attending a wedding.

I asked to do this month's top 5 because I learned some fun new skills when I was doing the popular posts in the sidebar. I learned how to make a picture take you to its post when you click it. So click the picture or title to any of these top 5 and a new window will open with that post!
And if you use the pin it button below the picture it will pin that post; if you use the pop up one on the picture it will pin this post. So if you see a top 5 post you're interested in, pin it and read it later or have the recipe for later. (Can you tell I'm super excited about learning how to do this!)

On to the top 5(ish).

Most Viewed:

Granola Bites or the Muffin Man

Jamie took some recipes on Pinterest, claiming to be yummy and good for you and created her own granola bites. These are yummy and good for you! And they are no bake which makes them perfect for summer!

Thank you to Try a New Recipe at Home to 4 Kiddos for featuring this recipe.

Second Most Viewed:

Fine Motor Craft Using Beans

This is a great rainy day craft for summer for your preschooler! It also helps teach sorting and following directions, sounds like I need to do this with my kids soon.

Thank you to the Sugar Aunts and Free Homeschool Deals for featuring this post.

Jamie's Favorites:

Strawberry Lemonade Muffins

Jamie says she's still on a strawberry kick and has been eating them like crazy so this recipe looked really, really good to her. As far as pregnancy cravings go at least that's a pretty healthy one!
Thank you to Weekend Potluck for featuring this recipe!

and

S'mores in a Jar

Jamie got to try these when Kerry made them and said they were so tasty. Love that you don't need a campfire to make these s'mores and they are such a fun summer treat!

Kerry's Favorite:

Raspberry Cinnamon Rolls w/Cream Cheese Frosting

Don't these just look fantastic? If I wasn't such a lazy breakfast and bread maker, I would be trying these soon. Kerry isn't as lazy is those areas so I bet she will be making these soon.

My Favorite:

World's Best Sugar Cookies

I promise one of these days I will not pick cookies as my favorite. But as Kerry mentioned this cookie recipe has been in our family a long time and I have always loved them! Besides that, they bring back good memories of making them with my mom. I've never tried them with chocolate sauce so I will definitely be trying that next time I make them.

Pinterest Favorite:

Crockpot Chicken Posole {Freezer Meal}

This recipe went crazy on Pinterest this month. With so many pins and repins! We want to thank every one of you who pins or repins our posts! We appreciate it.

Monthly Giveaway

We are thankful to all who have supported us at we start this blog. We thank you for reading, commenting, liking our Facebook, Following us on Twitter or Google +, Following on Pinterest, and Pinning our posts! You guys are awesome. As a way to say thank you, all our email subscribers are eligible to win a gift card every month. This month's winner of a Target Gift Card is whignout. We will be contacting you by email soon.

Exciting News!

If you didn't win don't worry you might be the winner of next month's! And we have something really special coming next week for all our readers not just those that follow by email. That will begin on July 4th so be on the lookout.

We look forward to many more great months with all of you! We love hearing from you, leave us a comment telling us your favorite this month or what you'd like to see more of!

Check out our link parties here.

Linking up at Tuesdays at our Home.

10 Cheap or Free Water Activities for Kids

This post is part of our July Top 5! Check out the rest of the best here.

{No Pool Required}

The very first day after school was out, the kids want to have a water play day. I have decided to forgo the pool this summer, since I have a 2 year old that has learned to open the back door. (Ack! Got to keep my eye on that one!) So I asked our Facebook friends for ideas, used some from my own experience and found some on Pinterest.

After that first water day and a few others along the way, we were starting to collect quite a few water activities. So I thought I would share them with all of you.

1. Roll for Splash

All you need for this is a die and a pan. The kids sit in a circle around the pan and if they roll a six they get to splash the water soaking the others and themselves. The kids loved it. We changed up the number after awhile and managed to sneak some learning into the game. I found this game on Pinterest in a Shark & Water Theme Fun post.

2. Sprinklers

Obviously this one seems like a no-brainer. Kids love sprinklers and you don't have to go all out and get a fancy one. My kids love the one we use to water the garden almost as much as their fancy ones.

One of our Facebook friends suggested setting up multiple sprinklers, making an obstacle course out of them, or sitting by the faucet and randomly turning on and off the sprinkler as the kids run through them,avoid them or play "Mother May I." Great ideas to bring some new fun to the sprinkler!

3. Relay Race

Water Relay: Sisters helping sisters

We got some cheap buckets and shovels and let the race against each other to transfer the water into another pail. I love how they worked together in this game!

4. Magic Paint

Grab some paint brushes and water and let the kids paint whatever they want. Read all about it here.

5. Slip n' Slide

Our slip n' slide was given to us so that made it cheap for us but if you don't already have one you can make your own with a tarp, hose, and baby shampoo (makes it slicker!).

6. Bike Wash

Give the kids a bucket of soapy water and let them wash their bikes, cars, or other toys. Or as my brother-in-law suggested, let them wash your car! My kids love washing their bikes! And of course rinsing them with the water hose.

7. Water Fight

Who doesn't love a water fight, whether it be squirt guns or pails of water? Our favorite way to water fight is with buckets or bowls in the sprinkler or with cups and a central filling station (like a large tub or even a pool, if you haven't gone pool-less).

8. Marble Pick-Up

Simple game: throw Marbles in a tub or pool, and the kids have to get them in the bucket only catch is they have to use their toes! DP & Kae learned this game at school, highly entertaining for how simple it is.

My little guy just scooped them up with a shovel, but even he had a blast getting the marbles in the bucket.

9. Water Balloons

My kids are still getting into the whole water balloon thing, since the little ones tend to drop them before we even start playing with them. But my kids do enjoy tossing water balloons back and forth. For a list of a whole lot more water balloon activities, check out these 50+ Water Balloon Games.

10. Duck, Duck, Squeeze

My oldest taught us this game! This game is just like duck, duck, goose only there is a sponge involved! Instead of saying goose, you squeeze the sponge over someones head!! If you aren't familiar with the rules of duck, duck, goose, you can find them here.

Have fun and don't forget the sunscreen! What's your favorite water activity for kids?
Happy Summer!

For more fun Summer Activities check out our Ideas for Kids Board:

Check out our link parties here

Featured at:

and Teach Beside Me and Family Fun Friday @Happy and Blessed Home.

The Sweetheart Skirt & Tee

This outfit started out with me trying a pattern for a Basic Tee from Dana at MADE. If you've never seen her work, she is incredibly creative, and offers awesome, free tutorials. Dana does a very easy to understand tutorial, so if you are interested in getting the free pattern and making one yourself, you will definitely want to check out her blog.
So the pattern looked pretty simple, but I wasn't sure how it would fit. I wanted to make the tee for Little Man, but since the pattern was a 4T, I figured I'd give it a try in girly fabric first, since that's closer to Miss Magoo's size.
I used a comfy jersey dress that was starting to come apart at the seams. I'm seriously just cutting up my entire closet, lately! But I want to learn to sew better, and what cheaper way to get experience than with things I'm planning to get rid of anyway, right? To see what else I've made from cast offs, click here or here.
As you can see from the picture below, you just cut out 4 pieces from the pattern that Dana offers.

After you have your pieces, you sew the shoulders and add ribbing at the neck (by far, that is the hardest part of the tee-- the rest is really easy). Once your ribbing is finished, you sew up the sides, and the tee is finished. I'm thinking I might take the brown ribbing out and change it to pink. It just ended up looking a bit too boyish (of course, it is a boy pattern, so that's my fault).

Once I finished this tee, it just wasn't looking very cute. It was definitely more boyish than I was wanting. So... I thought maybe if I added some pink hearts to the front of it, it would be cuter. I went to the fabric shop and unfortunately, they only had 1 color of pink knit. And it's pretty bright. In fact, it's almost atrocious. And of course, Miss Magoo loves it. Our tastes are pretty different.
I bought a 1/4 yard of the pink fabric, which ended up being far more than I needed, so a new plan hatched. I decided to use the remaining fabric for a skirt. It was plenty wide, but just a bit too short, so I added some peach jersey from another one of my shirts by cutting the arms off and making 2 long bands.

I cut one of the peach strips to the width of Miss Magoo's waist. Then I ironed it in half and ironed it in half again (like making bias tape). I gathered the top of the pink fabric until it was the same width as the peach fabric, pinned the pieces together and sewed down the top ironed line. Then I folded the peach fabric up and over, and stitched as close to the seam of the peach fabric on the other side as I could. I pulled a piece of elastic through the waist and made it a bit smaller than Miss Magoo's waist, so it would stay on her well.
With the other strip of peach fabric, I folded it in half and sewed it shut. Then I pinned it to the bottom of the skirt and sewed it in place, and then ironed it down flat.
The verdict?
This outfit is okay. Haha. Miss Magoo loves it, and that's all that really matters to me. I think it's almost cute, and almost atrocious. But I don't like the color pink (and go figure that would be my daughter's favorite color!), and I'm still just not loving the brown ribbing at the neck. But here is my adorable model showing off her new outfit.

She was telling me, "It's pretty windy. I should have put my hair in a pony tail."
And in this next one, she was telling me all about how when she grows up she's going to be a gymnastic (her word for gymnast) and an Irish dancer.

Have you made any projects like this, where they didn't turn out exactly how you had envisioned them?

Yellow Punch & Party

This month's Top 5 is on Saturday! Are you entered into our monthly giveaway? Be a verified email subscriber and you are automatically entered to win every month. Not one yet? Go sign up in the sidebar and make sure to verify when you get the confirmation email!

My husband and his siblings threw a surprise anniversary party for his parents last weekend. They have been married for 35 years.

Their wedding color was yellow and my sister-in-law thought it would be nice to decorate with the same color. She also used white and some other accenting colors. I tried to get pictures of everything but I wasn't really focused on making sure they were perfect pictures.

For the table centerpieces, we used mason jars and a yellow ribbon band with a white ribbon bow over the top. (And yes, I said we because I helped tape the ribbon on and fill the jars with flowers though all of it was my sister-in-law's idea)

All my pictures of the photo wall turned out blurry, which is a bummer because it was really cute. We put the pictures on scrapbook paper frame and hung them on long strands of yellow ribbon.

I volunteered to make the punch. I found this recipe on food.com while searching for yellow punch.

Yellow Punch
(Click title to print)

adapted from Yellow Punch by ThatJodiGirl

2 (6oz) cans frozen orange juice concentrate

2 (6oz) cans frozen lemonade concentrate

1 (46oz) can pineapple juice

2 quarts water

1 (2 liter) bottle sprite

lemons, sliced (optional)

Combine all juices and water. Add sprite and sliced lemons. You may also want to add ice if your punch is no longer cold.

Overall it was a great time! My husband's parents were very surprised and seemed to enjoy themselves greatly. It was fun to be a part of planning and decorating.

Check out our link parties here.

July's Menu

It is time once again for a menu. Again this month will be busy for us, so hopefully we can actually eat a few of these.

Week 5

Chicken Fried Steak
BBQ Chicken Salad
Bratwurst

For a printable version of the calendar

here

Unfortunately, this month I don't have a shopping list.

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Check out our link parties here.

Recipes for July's Menu

These recipes go with the menu for July.

BBQ Chicken Salad

2 chicken breasts

BBQ Sauce

Salad Mix

Tomatoes

Slice chicken into thin pieces. Mine are usually 1/4 inch thick. Grill chicken. When is cooked, brush with BBQ sauce and grill to caramelize sauce.Chop tomatoes. Add tomatoes to salad mix. Top with chicken and dressing of your choosing. Serve.

Gravy

1 lb breakfast pork sausage

1/4 cup flour

2 cups milk

In a large skillet, brown and crumble sausage. Once browned, stir in flour. Stir in milk a little at a time until it is the consistency you want. You may need to adjust the amount of milk.

Ontario Deaf Schools: Stands Up and Speaks Out

WATCH VIDEO: (American Sign Language) - Ontario Deaf Schools: Stand ups and speaks out. Students protest outfront Deaf school. Almost two dozen students protest outfront the E.C. Drury School for the Deaf, staff cuts,that they say will impact their education.

TORONTO - Students from the E.C. Drury School for The Deaf are in their second day of protesting the layoffs of 56 full-time support and residential staff, including nine locally at their Ontario Street campus of Ontario’s Provincial Schools.

The Deaf Ontario Association, which represents the Deaf in Ontario, posted on its website - the cuts will hurt the province's most vulnerable students with disabilities and severely impact their families rights to accessible education. Source: http://www.insidehalton.com/news-story/3846050-students-protest-out-front-deaf-school/.

Students Protest Outfront Deaf School.

Video by Wayne Nicholson

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The layoff of 56 full-time staff from Ontario’s Provincial Schools will hurt the province’s most vulnerable students with disabilities and severely impact the families’ rights to accessible education.

Deaf Canadians: Stand Up and Speak Up.

Video by ASLQuadrant

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Ellen Support ECD Protest.

Video by Ellen Hibbard

This is regarding ECD Deaf school protest in response to Ontario Government's recent decision to lay off staff at Deaf schools in Ontario.

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Deaf Children Value Deaf School and Staff.

Video by Joanne Sauve

Vaylena Sauve 6 years old and Owen Sauve 9 years attend Sir James Whitney for the Deaf School. Value all Deaf school.

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Related Content:

Ontario Deaf Schools Staff Layoffs

First Nations Sign Language Council of 1930

WATCH VIDEO: (English Subtitles) - First Nations Sign Language Council of 1930.

The following clips are from a gathering of Native American chiefs, medicine men, and elders representing more than a dozen different nations. The films were produced by General Hugh L. Scott and the U.S. Department of the Interior by an Act of Congress, for the purpose of preserving and recording Indian Sign Language in a variety of discourse styles.

The meeting took place in September of 1930 in Browning, Montana, and is the largest known gathering of high-ranking representatives from Indian Nations to be filmed up until then. This footage comes courtesy of the National Archives, and was digitized with support from the Office of the Chancellor at the University of Tennessee.

Video by Robert maestro

Source: http://pislresearch.com/videos.html

AG Bell Murders Deaf Culture ?

WATCH VIDEO: (American Sign Language) - AG Bad murders Deaf culture ?

MannyASL's new video on YouTube to educate about the knowledge of AG Bad for deaf and hard of hearing and hearing people. This video is about "My Queen." AG Bad also known as AG Bell.

Reminder: Oralism is not the problem, The notion of AG Bad promotes American Sign Language is wrong, dishonesty. AG Bad is misleading parents as seen on #LiesAGBellToldMyParents. Although it is history but today the practice, the principle and the philosophy still discriminate against sign language in which a part the form of Audism.

MannyASL, who is a Deaf, which is issuing a call to action, inviting community to be part of the solution to explain why he is doing a good cause, to educating and awareness about the AG Bad. Please watch & share! Thank you! Let his know of your thoughts... Click here!

My Queen.

Video by mannyasl

Rise of The AG Bell:

The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, also known as AG Bell, is a resource, support network and advocate for listening, learning, talking and living independently with hearing loss. Through publications, advocacy, training, scholarships and financial aid, AG Bell promotes the use of spoken language as well as hearing technology for children with hearing loss. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with chapters located throughout the United States and a network of international affiliates. Read more at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Biography - Alexander Graham Bell:

Everyone knows about Alexander Graham Bell and his invention of the telephone. What is not as well known, is his ties to the deaf community. AG Bell work with the Deaf. Bell's father was invited by Sarah Fuller, principal of the Boston School for Deaf Mutes (which continues today as the public Horace Mann School for the Deaf), in Boston, Massachusetts, to introduce the Visible Speech System by providing training for Fuller's instructors, but he declined the post, in favor of his son. Traveling to Boston in April 1871, Bell proved successful in training the school's instructors. He was subsequently asked to repeat the program at the American Asylum for Deaf-mutes in Hartford, Connecticut, and the Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, Massachusetts. Read more at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

BBQ Chicken Salad

Gravy